Small cells are low-powered radio access nodes that may operate as part of a wireless communication network, with a small cell operational range that may be on the order of 10 meters (m) to 1 kilometer (km). Small cells may be compared to macro cells which may have a range of 1 km to greater than 10 km. Millimeter-wave capable small cells (MCSCs) are small cells that use millimeter electromagnetic waves, including waves with a frequency between 30 gigahertz and 300 gigahertz, for communication.
Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between a node (e.g., a transmission station) and a wireless device (e.g., a mobile device). Some wireless devices communicate using orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) in a downlink (DL) transmission and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) in an uplink (UL) transmission. Standards and protocols that use orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) for signal transmission include the third generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard (e.g., 802.16e, 802.16m), which is commonly known to industry groups as WiMAX (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access), and the IEEE 802.11 standard, which is commonly known to industry groups as WiFi.
In 3GPP radio access network (RAN) LTE systems, the node in an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) system is referred to as an eNode B (also commonly denoted as evolved Node Bs, enhanced Node Bs, eNodeBs, or eNBs), which communicates with the wireless device, known as a user equipment (UE). The downlink (DL) transmission can be a communication from the node (e.g., eNodeB) to the wireless device (e.g., UE), and the uplink (UL) transmission can be a communication from the wireless device to the node.
In LTE, data can be transmitted from the eNodeB to the UE via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) can be used to acknowledge that data was received. Downlink and uplink channels or transmissions can use time-division duplexing (TDD) or frequency-division duplexing (FDD).
The number of users of wireless devices has increased dramatically in recent years. In addition, the amount of data transmitted by each user has substantially increased. However, the bandwidth available for wireless transmission has not increased substantially. One way to accommodate the ever increasing amount of data that is wirelessly communicated is to increase the density of the nodes.
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of is thereby intended.